Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
“New York City isn’t just coming back—we’re back,” said Mayor Adams.
By Forum Staff
As he concludes his first year in office, Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday released a list of what he characterized as key wins achieved for New Yorkers over the last 12 months.
Highlights include:
Making New York City Safer: As a result of the Adams administration’s focus on public safety, shootings are down 17 percent year to date and homicides are down by 13.1 percent year to date. Further, the NYPD has removed more than 7,000 illegal guns from New York City streets this year and made over 4,500 gun arrests — a 27-year high. Additionally, November 2022 saw major crimes drop from where they were in November 2021, showing efforts are working across the board, and subway crime in that same month dropped by 12.8 percent compared to the same month last year, leading to more than 1 billion passengers using the MTA’s subway system this year.
Expanding the Gifted and Talented Programs for Public School Students: Mayor Adams added 100 kindergarten seats and 1,000 third-grade seats to Gifted and Talented schools, expanding both entry points to all districts and serving every community citywide for the first time in history. The city also expanded early childhood special-education seats across the five boroughs, putting the city on track to provide a seat for every child with a disability by February 2023.
Connecting People in Need to Stable Housing: Since the beginning of the year, the Adams administration has connected nearly 3,000 households to supportive housing, well surpassing the number of New Yorkers connected to supportive housing in 2021, and putting the city on track to meet its goal of connecting 4,000 households to supportive housing by mid-2023.
Making New York City Streets Safer: Thanks to Mayor Adams’ advocacy, the city was able to transition its 2,000 automated speed cameras to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week on Aug. 1. Speed cameras and automated traffic enforcement are proven, effective safety tools shown to reduce speeding by 72 percent. Additionally, the city has completed safety improvements at 1,400 intersections, exceeding an initial goal of 1,000. As a result of all this work, New York City has recorded 88 pedestrian fatalities, among the fewest to date in the city’s recorded history.
Getting Stuff Clean: Mayor Adams announced a $14.5 million sanitation investment to help build a cleaner, more welcoming city across all five boroughs that targeted more than 1,000 areas that have long been neglected. Mayor Adams also invested a record $22 million in new funding for litter basket service, with baskets now emptied approximately 50,000 more times per week citywide when compared to 2021. New Yorkers are tired of seeing overflowing litter baskets, trash under overpasses, and an out-of-control rat population, so the Adams administration intends to deliver a more functional and more well-kept city for all.
“We inherited a city in crisis, with spiking COVID rates, increasing crime, and lackluster job growth — but at the end of my rookie year, New York City isn’t just coming back – we’re back,” said Adams.
